{"id":26897,"date":"2018-08-25T22:04:09","date_gmt":"2018-08-26T02:04:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.runkevinrun.com\/?p=26897"},"modified":"2018-08-25T22:04:09","modified_gmt":"2018-08-26T02:04:09","slug":"august-25-2018-dateline-mexico-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/runkevinrun.com\/?p=26897","title":{"rendered":"August 25, 2018 – Dateline: Mexico City"},"content":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve been watching a lot of westerns lately and I\u2019m struck by humankind\u2019s ability to create time machines. \u00a0I\u2019m a runner so I can travel on my two feet, sometimes faster than those in a car due to traffic. \u00a0But a horse enabled long stretches to be overcome, such that the pony express was viewed as a giant leap forward in communication, cutting the time to send and receive messages to weeks rather than months. \u00a0It was leapfrogged by the telegraph. \u00a0Trains cut the time to travel, and planes cut it even further.<\/p>\n

I found myself reflecting on this as I flew into Mexico City this morning. \u00a0Butch and Sundance had a hard ride to get south of the border; I had TSA precheck.<\/div>\n
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And so while the world has grown smaller in many ways, even more homogenized as evidenced by my passing Starbucks, 7-11, Carl\u2019s Jr and the like as I walked out of immigration and into the main terminal. \u00a0There\u2019d be more of that once I got to the city proper – more Starbucks, more Old Navy, more various chains and brands. \u00a0But thankfully there are also a great many authentic local places, some storefronts, some food trucks\/carts. \u00a0This is true the world over in that I would prefer local fare to the same old, same old… albeit now and again I understand the lure of a comforting familiarity.<\/div>\n
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I\u2019m not saying anything profound or insightful here. \u00a0I\u2019m self conscious in foreign lands as I want to try and speak at least some local phrases – hello, goodbye, thank you, and the like. \u00a0But even when the words are ingrained – hola, adios, muchas gracias – I still struggle to even say those. \u00a0Part of it comes from my flat midwestern accent. \u00a0I worry my attempts to essay a bit of Mexican comes across as embarrassing … or worse, insulting.<\/div>\n
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Take for example the word \u201cMexico.\u201d \u00a0Is it more or less offensive for me to try and approximate the local pronunciation? \u00a0If I say \u201cMeh-HE-co\u201d to honor the accented \u201ce\u201d here is that a good thing? \u00a0Or do o sound like a complete jackass, like when Donald Trump tries to say, \u201cPo-WHERE-to Rico?\u201d \u00a0I hope I sound like I\u2019m trying to honor local customs and not that I\u2019m an arrogant, out of touch, ugly American.<\/div>\n
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In any case, I spent the afternoon heading to the expo to pick up my bib number for tomorrow\u2019s race. \u00a0It was a mass of people and I wasn\u2019t entirely sure where to go… the first sport expo I found myself at was NOT for the marathon, as swimsuit glad fitness models got sprayed down off stage then flexed onstage to compete for Mr and Ms Mexico. \u00a0I was not going to be mistaken for a contestant that\u2019s for sure…but I did inadvertently wander into the backstage dressing rooms trying to find the exit to the marathon expo that I could see behind the fence and off in the distance.<\/div>\n
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Eventually I made it and cleverly they had you walk the entire expo to get to the number pickup. \u00a0It was an expansive thing, the usual\/usual at these sport and fitness expos regardless of country. \u00a0Crowds went left, right, center and I was always a salmon swimming upstream.<\/div>\n
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I moose ask you a question\u2014are there a lot of meeses in Mexico City?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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I did make it up the stairs to the numbers room where I was promptly told they had run out of some shirt sizes. \u00a0The guy got me a small and a large bit wouldn\u2019t let me take them out of the packages and try them on for size. \u00a0I Indiana Jones\u2019d it, weighing the bags, trying to decide which one to use to swap out for the fertility idol in Peru. \u00a0I went with the large. \u00a0Later I tried it on and it IS large on me… so truth in advertising. \u00a0Still, I suspect the small would\u2019ve been, ya know, small on me.<\/div>\n
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They had a big banner that listed all the names of the runners. \u00a0It took me a awhile to suss out it was alphabetical by Christian name. \u00a0It takes forever to find one\u2019s name… all the more so when one\u2019s name ISN\u2019T there.<\/div>\n
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I was not alone in being unnamed – a lot of folks had scrawled their Jose Hancock on the side, so when in Mexico…<\/div>\n
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It wasn\u2019t that I was too cheap to pay the USD$6 uber fare to get to my AirBNB. \u00a0It was more that I wanted to see how the city\u2019s metro worked. \u00a0Also, traffic in this town is atrocious. \u00a0I thought the metro would be faster anyway.<\/div>\n
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Five pesos and 34 minutes later, I was standing outside my AirBNB. \u00a0My host, Salvador, was always super responsive and friendly, and I was glad to see he was just as nice in person when he welcomed me inside.<\/div>\n
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It\u2019s a nice place, and the location seems great to me. \u00a0This is a whirlwind trip, in and out to run the marathon, and just \u201cun poco\u201d de sightseeing. But as I wandered down the boulevards, ducking and weaving amidst even more people, I was able to soak in at least a little of the local scene.<\/div>\n
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There are a ton of cars… and a ton of people. \u00a0But it\u2019s a beautiful day. \u00a0The weather is just right – a bit warm in direct sun but nice and comfy in the shade. \u00a0I was worried as we were landing that the smog seemed super thick, like late 1970s Los Angeles smog. \u00a0But once we landed I found myself barely noticing it. \u00a0And while many people warned me of the altitude of the city, I seem to be okay. \u00a0Maybe climbing Pikes Peak last week served an acclimating purpose.<\/div>\n
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I came to Mexico City because last year it was one of the most corrupt races ever run. \u00a0Something like 5000+ runners were caught cheating. \u00a0I felt like it was something I should see. \u00a0So we will see what tomorrow brings.<\/div>\n
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In the meantime, a photo gallery of today\u2019s sightseeing by wandering.<\/div>\n
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Uncle Owen? What about that one? I don\u2019t speak Bocce … or any other languages… but I think he\u2019s in liquidation.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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This is where eventually I wound up for dinner as a couple places I went had long waits… and this place IS authentic. Says so in the name. NB – the tacos were really good.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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LARPing Pok\u00e9mon Go! Wait… do people still play Pok\u00e9mon Go?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Something I\u2019ve always wondered – do the character buskers have a study abroad\/foreign exchange program?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Is that King Kong with a Banjo? I don\u2019t know, but I\u2019m saying it is.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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This is a barber push cart.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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It\u2019s raining cats here… which is troubling for tomorrow\u2019s run. \u00a0There\u2019s not a lot of drainage I\u2019ve noticed.<\/div>\n
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how do I know it\u2019s raining cats? \u00a0This is Ikora, Salvador\u2019s cat.<\/div>\n
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I\u2019ve been watching a lot of westerns lately and I\u2019m struck by humankind\u2019s ability to create time machines. \u00a0I\u2019m a runner so I can travel on my two feet, sometimes faster than those in a car due to traffic. \u00a0But a horse enabled long stretches to be overcome, such that the pony express was viewed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26897","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/runkevinrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26897","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/runkevinrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/runkevinrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/runkevinrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/runkevinrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=26897"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/runkevinrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26897\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/runkevinrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=26897"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/runkevinrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=26897"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/runkevinrun.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=26897"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}